Friday, April 11, 2014

The anti anti-rape backlash

The patriarchy has been badly embarrassed by the atrocities committed on Indian women. It was a question of something must be done to wake up a society deep in slumber and sick up to the neck. The anti-rape ordinance that has been passed and may be considered a harsh response to a deadly virus that was sweeping through communities. Another thing good happened, women were no longer willing to take things lying down.

The two most vile cases have been fast-tracked (along with others) and now we have a number of "boys" sentenced to death. While in the Nirbhaya case (Delhi) boys were hindus, in the Shakti Mills case (Mumbai) boys were muslims.

Now the backlash has started and the politicians are finding a way to exploit anxieties about boys getting harsh punishment because of bad behavior. With Mullah Mulayam it is another way to win the hearts of muslim families (as if muslims dont care about what happens to girls). .....Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has said that any woman who has sex outside marriage should be hanged, including rape victims. According to a report published in Mid-Day,
Azmi said, "Rape is punishable by hanging in Islam. But here, nothing
happens to women, only to men. Even the woman is guilty."

....The
Samajwadi Party leader further added, "In India, if you have sex with a
person with consent, it's fine. But if that same person complains, it's a
problem. Nowadays, we see a lot of such cases. Girls complain when
someone touches them, and even when someone doesn't touch them. It
becomes a problem then, and the man's honour is ruined in this. If rape
happens with or without consent, it should be punished as prescribed in
Islam."

When asked for a solution to the problem of rapes, Azmi
had this to say: "Solution is this: any woman if, whether married or
unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be
hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldn't be allowed even if a woman
goes by consent."Samjawadi
Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday opposed the new anti-rape
law and said that his party would change the law that entails death for
rape.

Addressing a rally in Moradabad, Mulayam said, "rape accused should not be hanged. Men make mistakes."

The SP chief further said he will support provision for legal action against those who misuse the rape act.

Citing the recent example of a court sentencing three men found guilty
of gang-raping two women in the abandoned Shakti Mills in Mumbai last
year, he said there was a need to change the new rape law which provides
for death sentence to repeat rape offenders.

"Efforts will be
made to change such a law, so that those misusing it are punished. Those
filing false reports will also be taken to task," he said.

Mulayam said boys and girls fall in love but due to differences they
fall apart later on. "When their friendship ends, the girl complains she
has been raped," he said, stressing the need for changes in the
anti-rape law. ..........